Her Big, Green, Guardian Angel
by MustLoveMustyPages
Summary: Somewhere along the way, Darcy became friends with the Hulk. Basically it all came about that the Hulk seemed to have made it his personal mission to rescue Darcy whenever there was trouble underway. Darcy didn't mind so much because it meant she didn't die.
1. Chapter 1

Somewhere along the way, Darcy became friends with the Hulk.

Basically it all came about that the Hulk seemed to have made it his personal mission to rescue Darcy whenever there was trouble underway. Darcy didn't mind so much because it meant she didn't die.

Really, it was just a small sacrifice of her dignity to not put up a fight when the big green guy swished her up into the air. It was what ensured that she got to go to bed every night relatively unscathed and for that she wouldn't complain.

For awhile Bruce wasn't aware of his counterpart's seeming obsession with Darcy, and Darcy thought it best to keep the matter to herself. She really preferred not having constant bruises all over her body and horrendous scabs from the unavoidable injuries that used to befall her whenever a bad guy was in town.

So Darcy didn't say a word, partly for her own selfish reasons, and partly to protect Bruce, who tried his best to never talk about his other self and seemed so uncomfortable with the topic that whenever it was brought up in conversation he looked on the verge of a heart attack. She had developed a soft spot in her heart for the quirky scientist who always gave her a polite smile when he passed her in the halls, and the last thing she wanted to do was cause him to worry about another thing.

It all came to a head one day though when Bruce freaked out at Tony.

Darcy knew from experience that Tony Stark couldn't leave well enough alone as he was always pushing her buttons with sarcastic comments and self-righteous declarations, but he usually knew when to back off.

It was about a quarter after one when Darcy heard the noise.

She had just gotten back from picking up lunch for her and Jane, and was heading down to the lab when a large crash echoed down the hall.

Being SHIELD headquarters, Darcy was used to hearing loud noises more frequently than in her past jobs. Something about this one sounded different though. Much less mechanical or chemical in nature and decidedly more human.

Or _human-ish_ if Darcy wanted to get all technical about it.

She picked up her pace slightly when she heard the sound, and made a right instead of the usual left that would take her to Jane. When there was another loud boom, this time causing a slight tremor to the floor, Darcy dropped her things and took off running.

The fact that she was wearing high heels was of no great concern. She'd run in higher and run farther in the past when being chased by an out-of-control robot. Usually she tried to forget that traumatic experience.

The noises stopped momentarily just as Darcy reached the source. She didn't even pause outside of Tony Stark's lab, just entered the access code that she had swiped from Jarvis and dashed in.

She was familiar enough with the workings of the scientists in the building to head straight for the back. Really, she was prepared for anything after being employed at SHIELD for the past 10 months.

The sight when she got there though made her suck in a breath.

On the floor beside her was a pile of tattered clothes, and a few feet away in place of the quirky doctor with the nice smile and cute glasses was the green guy.

For the first time in her acquaintance with Tony Stark, she saw real fear in the man's eyes as he dove behind lab tables and dodged the chairs and lab equipment that the Hulk was hurling at him. Just after a tray of glass beakers narrowly missed Tony's head, Darcy decided it would be in everyone's best interest if she intervened.

"Hey!"

It was by no means the most elegant greeting, but it served its purpose well enough because a pair of large, bright green eyes were soon locked onto hers.

After that it was just a matter of coaxing and gentle prodding to get the guy to calm down. Tony first tried to convince her to leave, but eventually realized she was having more luck than him and even went so far as apologizing to the Hulk when Darcy told him to do so. It was probably some kind of record, one that she would have to speak with Pepper about in the future, because she didn't even have to ask him twice.

Fifteen minutes later, Bruce Banner was in another room changing into a clean and unshredded set of clothes. Darcy was sitting on a lab table, swinging her legs back and forth and sipping from the iced tea that she had retrieved from out in the hallway with the rest of her and Jane's lunch.

Tony Stark was across from her, standing up with his arms folded against his chest and giving her an appraising once over. His eyes narrowed a bit when she met his gaze, and she continued to chug down her iced tea.

By the time she had reached the bottom, Bruce still wasn't back yet so she grabbed Jane's drink and started in on it too. After all that work she was suddenly very thirsty.

Almost immediately though she spit the drink back into the cup. "Oh gross." She looked from the abomination they dared call tea and back at Tony. "Do you have any sugar?"

Tony raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Suuugggaaarr," she drew out shaking the cup at him to where the ice rattled around inside. "Those nunchucks forgot the 'sweet' in sweetened iced tea."

Tony narrowed his eyes. "You should be freaking out right now." Darcy sighed as he was ignoring her request. She really was thirsty and there was no way she could drink that stuff without at least five packets. Maybe eight if it was the cheap, artificial stuff.

Darcy snorted at the thought. "Cheap" was not probably not even a word in Tony Stark's vocabulary.

"I don't think you are taking this very seriously," he said, looking more serious than Darcy knew possible.

Darcy hopped off the table and took a moment to rebalance herself on her high heels. "No, I don't think _you_ are taking this very seriously. I need my sugar." Realizing she wasn't going to be getting any from him, she grabbed her stuff and started walking towards the lab doors. She always made sure the sugar container by Jane's coffee pot was well-stocked.

"You've run into the Hulk before, haven't you?" Tony asked, and the accusatory tone in his voice made Darcy pause and turn around.

Ignoring his question she said, "Look, I don't know what happened, but I'm pretty sure it was your fault." Tony's sudden pursed lips at her accusation only confirmed her suspicions. She looked over her shoulder, thinking that it would be better if she just left and didn't insult the man whose was essentially her boss. But she owed the Hulk, and Bruce for that matter, her life. It was the least she could do since the Hulk was like her big, green, guardian angel. "Just... just apologize, okay? Whatever it was, apologize and don't do it again. Neither one deserves being poked and prodded because of your selfish interests."

The billionaire scientist was silent as she walked expected though, she heard a door open and close a second after her exit, followed by a slow murmur of voices. She could just make out the words "I apologize" and "idiot," causing her to have a smile on her face all the way back to Jane's lab.

* * *

 **I love Darcy and Bruce together. For some reason now after having read Darcy/Bruce fanfictions I can't picture them with anyone else. They've practically become a canon couple in my eyes even though they've had zero interactions in canon so far. (This definitely needs to change although I'm not holding my breath).**

 **Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors. I went through this quickly but I basically wrote this all on a tiny phone screen in a sketchy Gmail message to myself. Hey, you do what you gotta do when inspiration strikes!**

 **I think this is going to be a three-parter. Maybe. Something like that. It was going to just be a one-shot but then the beginning was a little longer than anticipated. Let me know if you think it's worth continuing!**


	2. Chapter 2

Darcy steered clear of both Tony and Bruce after that. Tony because she was a little bit angry with him, and Bruce because there was no way that he hadn't figured out that Darcy had met the Hulk before after the incident in the lab. She technically hadn't outright lied to Bruce about knowing the Hulk. However, like the time she didn't mention the newly formed dent in the family car until after her mother had noticed, omitting information is essentially the same thing as lying.

Soon or later she knew she was going to have to face it. If fate had asked her, however, she would have requested it not be in an elevator. Elevators just bred awkwardness, and plus there was the factor of not being able to escape said awkwardness because you were in a box with solid walls in every direction.

Darcy was already in the elevator, at the time empty and with its doors closing, when a hand reached through to stop them. She felt her eyes widen when she saw who it was, and then looked promptly down at the floor. Bruce Banner gave an uncomfortable cough, pausing at the opening, probably deciding whether or not he should get on.

Flicking her gaze for a brief second to his face, she sucked in a breath and said, "Oh just get in here already."

Bruce complied, picking a spot that was the furthest away from Darcy.

After passing two floors by without a sound, she had figured that he wasn't going to speak at all. Then on floor 5 his voice cracked into the silent space. "So you've run into the other guy before?"

Darcy was so shocked that he was speaking to her at all she said the first sarcastic thing that came to mind. " _Oh yeah_ , we've met on more than _one_ unfortunate circumstance."

There was a beat of silence, then "I'm sorry."

The man's voice sounded so distraught that Darcy forgot her decision to avoid looking at him and snapped her head up. "What?" she asked, voice high. He looked... guilty. Sad and guilty. Seeing his face made it all click. "Now slow your roll Mister! The Hulk didn't cause those unfortunate occasions."

A small scoffing noise told her that he didn't believe her.

"Bruce, I'm telling the truth. He didn't _cause_ any of them, he _saved_ me."

There was a beat where she watched him process the information, rubbing a hand roughly on the back of his neck. "Really?" There was a little glimmer of hope in his voice that made Darcy's heart break.

"Really," she said, trying to impress upon him how serious she was. "I'd be dead now... on more than one occasion." She started counting on her fingers, wavering back and forth when she was trying to decide if that one time really counted, then clarified, "To be precise - four times."

That sobered Bruce a bit, and he didn't look so upset anymore about Darcy meeting the Hulk. Then he fully registered what she'd said and instead got upset _with_ her.

"Four times? Darcy you need to be more careful! What were you doing?"

Dary vaguely realized that the elevator door had opened and shut twice already at their designated floor. Maybe she should have just let the dude continue thinking the Hulk was a menace instead of defending him. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears and cleared her throat in preparation of defending herself, not at all how she thought this conversation would go when Bruce stepped onto the elevator.

"Newsflash!" she shouted. "We live in New York City. We get attacked a lot. Bad things happen. It's not my fault." Darcy crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

Bruce removed his glasses and pinched his nose. "I didn't say it was your fault. But you've only been working here for what... 10 months?"

Surprised that he knew that, Darcy just nodded.

"We've only _had_ four attacks in the last 10 months, so that means you've been outside every single time?"

She nodded again, shrugging. "I tend to have bad luck. Runs in the family."

Darcy had used a similar excuse on Jane before, who had practically had developed a coronary explaining that that wasn't how genetics worked. Bruce Banner seemed to be having similar thoughts run through is science-minded brain but he didn't voice them.

"Okay," he said slowly. "But why are you out walking around during the day that much?"

"Food." At Bruce's confused look she realized she was going to have to elaborate. "It's part of my job to make sure Jane eats. I pick us up lunch every day and sometimes supper if she's going to be here late working on a project." Darcy didn't think it was pertinent to add that Jane was _always_ working on a project. From the way Bruce was acting, he probably would have something to say about her venturing into some of the seedier parts of town on her own to get a late night dumpling order from the cute little Chinese restaurant a few blocks away, or picking up a pizza from the authentic Italian place on the other side of the city.

When Bruce finally noticed what Darcy had two minutes ago - that the elevator doors were closing and opening repeatedly on their floor, he sighed and motioned for Darcy to step out first.

Their conversation was far from over, though.

"Why don't you just get them delivered here?" he asked, like it was an obvious solution.

Which maybe to Bruce it was, but Darcy didn't see the same problem as him. She shook her head fiercely. "First, the place I get our lunches from only deliver if we buy a certain amount. I'm not giving into that business strategy bull crap trying to make me spend even more money. Second, sometimes I just need a break from the lab. I get some exercise... I don't snap Jane's twiggy little neck when she complains about Thor one too many times. It's a win-win."

Bruce did not see it that way. Darcy decided that she really didn't want to be doing this anymore because the more she talked to Bruce, the more she felt like an idiot, so she started heading to Jane's lab. An arm stopped her progress though and Bruce started pulling her in the other direction. For a moment Darcy considered pulling back, but Bruce, like the Hulk, had seemed sometime in the last five minutes to make her is personal mission. Not entirely surprising because she was awesome.

Bruce's grip as he dragged her to his lab was gentle but firm, and she decided that maybe she could stand talking with him a few more minutes.

One hour later they had come to an agreement. Although why they needed one in the first place was still a little lost on Darcy, she could kind of sort of see Bruce's point about safety, although she wouldn't admit that to him.

Basically it worked out that Darcy would now be in charge of ordering lunch for everyone from then on. Tony had shown up towards the end of the conversation and was somehow weirdly on Bruce's side. From the smirks he kept sending Darcy, she figured it was more to annoy her than because he was actually concerned about her safety, but whatever. And since she would be ordering lunch for everyone, there would be enough to meet the delivery requirement, solving that perceived problem and allowing Darcy to stay inside.

Then Bruce, with a 25% awkward/75% totally cute blush and averting of eyes, offered his and Tony's lab up for a place that Darcy could take a break from her best friend's Norse god romance problems.

Tony, being the super helpful guy he was, even handed over a credit card to pay for the previously mentioned meals, and at the same time stating that it didn't appear that she would need the code to the lab since she already seemed to know it. Darcy kept her lips sealed on that one, having made an oath to a very protective British-speaking AI that she had to uphold.

While it all sounded well and good, Darcy was a tad confused about how Bruce or Tony benefited from this agreement though. Sure, they wouldn't have to get their own lunch, but then they'd be at Darcy's mercy for ordering. Also, they had to know that she wouldn't be her usual perky, bubbly self when she came down to their lab, but quite the opposite. Darcy hadn't thought there was a man in existence who would knowingly subject themselves to that, but here were _two_. She couldn't help but think there had to be an ulterior motive to all of this.

When she voiced this out loud though, Tony just rolled his eyes like the answer was obvious, then left, leaving Bruce to fend for himself. In answer, he jabbed a thumb at the retreating Tony and said with a lopsided grin,"Maybe I need someone to distract me from hurting Tony."

Darcy let out a snort of laughter at Bruce, who was surprisingly funny, and couldn't help but think that it was the start of a beautiful (if somewhat tentative) friendship.

* * *

 **So I think I'm going to change my plans a bit for this. I've had a few commenters ask about knowing more specifics of how Darcy met the Hulk. I wasn't planning on doing anything with that (was just going to leave it ambiguous), but I'm always up for a challenge. And writing the Hulk character fully-realized is definitely going to be a challenge for me.**

 **I've changed this into a series, which I decided to name after this fic which inspired it all: Her Big, Green, Guardian Angel.**

 **So it's (probably) going to be:**

 **1\. Prequel scenes with Darcy meeting the Hulk**  
 **2\. Story about Darcy becoming tentative friends with Bruce (which is what you are currently reading)**  
 **3\. Then... later stories about Bruce/Darcy, exploring their growing friendship and probably turning it into a little something more... thoughts?**

 **Sorry for the switcheroo. I don't really think things through, I just DO. And what started off as a one-shot has slowly progressed into a whole lot more.**

 **I've just started writing chapter 3, which I think is going to be the last part of this story. We'll see when I reach the end, but that should be up soon-ish.**

 **Hope you are enjoying this so far. Let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

It only took a week for Darcy to realize what an incredible gift she had been given. Actually, it may not have even taken that long for the realization to strike, because on the second day of their agreement, Darcy had practically stormed the other lab, frightening Bruce in the process. Instead of getting annoyed, though, he had offered a smile and a bottle of iced tea, which Darcy had taken with a sort of awe.

Then, when he had pulled out a chair silently beside his station and motioned for her to sit down and "tell him what happened," she'd thought it was possible she had died and gone to heaven. When Bruce wasn't looking she had pinched her skin just to be sure.

After that, she visited the lab much more frequently, and not always in a storm cloud of rage. They had really good tea there, and Bruce (as well as Tony when he happened to show up for work) were surprisingly good listeners.

It wasn't even Jane that was pushing Darcy's buttons most of the time. Jane was her best friend, and Darcy could usually overlook the female scientist's annoying tendencies with an eye roll or exaggerated sigh.

It was the newly hired scientists that were setting Darcy on edge at the moment. Bruce pointed out, in that impossibly kind and non-judgmental tone of his, that disliking someone because they "seemed off" wasn't a very good basis for an argument. And her tendency to call them Wacko 1 and Wacko 2 was not helping matters either.

Bruce had only met them the one time, though, and their exchange had been awkward and brief. Jane's conversation with them was a tad longer, but that was because Jane was a goddess among sciencey men. Tony had yet to meet them and said he had no inclination to ever do so.

Unfortunately for Darcy, she _did_ have to meet them, and _communicate_ with them, on a regular basis. It seemed that whoever was in charge of scheduling at SHIELD had decided that Darcy was the perfect person for tours and fielding questions. If she ever met said scheduler, she was definitely going to give them a piece of her mind.

On the surface they seemed nice enough with their eager smiles and quick compliments. Occasionally, though, Darcy saw things in their behavior that made her uncomfortable. Their eyes were always watching everyone else, almost with a predatory gaze. Bruce said they were probably trying to figure out how to steal his job. Darcy had laughed at that, because it was entirely possible since the two new hires were experimenting on boring rocks while Dr. Banner basically had free reign to conduct whatever experiments he wanted.

It was also the conversations the two had, though, whenever they thought no one else was around. At first, Darcy had pushed away their quiet whispers as crazy scientist banter. She had enough experience in her months as Jane's intern and then her 10+ months of work at SHIELD to know that it was quite normal for science-minded people to talk to themselves, or to each other, with bent heads and quiet whispers.

Whenever she overheard their conversations, however, they were never talking about rocks or anything relevant to their jobs. If they had been arguing about whether metamorphic, sedimentary, or igneous rocks were better, _that_ she could understand. But instead, they were always discussing other SHIELD employees, and not just in a gossiping manner either.

No, they were discussing strengths and weaknesses. Habits. _Schedules_. It was like they were fanboys memorizing every single detail of their fellow employees' lives, except the hero-inspired awe in their voices was absent and in its place a cold, calculating precision.

Tony pushed off her concerns, saying she was just paranoid. Working with SHIELD could do that to a person - make you think you're seeing bad guys every time you turn the corner. At Darcy's persistence, though, Tony had paused in his work and offered up Jarvis's services. It was more to get her to stop bugging him than anything, but Darcy was appreciative all the same.

After that, whenever she wasn't needed with Jane, Darcy was going over sound bites that Jarvis had pulled from SHIELD's security database. She poured over every word Wacko 1 and 2 said, putting on her pink headphones and listening to the clips Jarvis had loaded onto her phone.

When she was taking her breaks in the other lab, Darcy scanned through video feeds, both past and live, looking for proof that the two scientists were not what they seemed.

One day, when she had reached the bottom of her tea and went to get another from the fridge, she came back to find Bruce looking at the videos on her phone. Without glancing up he said, "You really think there's something wrong, don't you?"

If Tony had asked her the same thing, she would have gotten defensive. Bruce's tone was not one of annoyance though as Tony's would have been, but genuine concern.

Darcy unscrewed the lid from her tea and took a sip. She tilted her head back and sighed, worrying her lip. "I really do."

"Darcy..." he started, and she could hear his voice grow worried. It was the same one he had used when discussing her habit of walking alone to get lunch all those weeks ago.

"I know! I know!" She waved him off, still looking up at the ceiling. "It's crazy talk, but I just have this feeling that..."

Bruce interrupted her, sounding panicked. "No, Darcy, you need to see this..."

Before Bruce could finish, there was an explosion and all of his words were swallowed up by an ear-shattering whoosh.

Darcy was flung backward from her chair, and her head hit a solid object behind her with what was probably a loud thunk. She wouldn't know how loud though because everything had gone silent. The flurry of motion in front of her indicated that she should be hearing something, but there was nothing there.

Then her ears started to ring, and all at once sound came back to her. It was softer than usual, muted almost like she was underwater. Just when her hearing finally returned though, her vision started to go. Dark spots danced at the corners of her eyes and she tried to blink them away; however, they just kept getting larger and larger until everything was dark.

* * *

 **Ahhh! So let me know what you think. I've got the next chapter planned but I have yet to start writing it yet. It will be coming** **soon though :)**

 **I know... I know... I said this was only going to be three parts. I keep changing! But in better news, now you get more Darcy/Bruce interaction?**

 **See? I knew I could make you feel better.**

 **In all seriousness, my plan really is to end this as a four-parter, but if it changes... *shrugs* what can you do? Darcy just keeps on talking and talking, and I can't very well say no to the queen of sass and tasers, can I?**

 **The correct answer is obviously NO, I CAN'T.**

 **Thanks for continuing to read! I appreciate feedback like Darcy appreciates a good, sweet iced tea.**


	4. Chapter 4

Moving hurt. Staying still hurt. Even just thinking about any of it physically hurt.

Darcy would have killed for some high dose painkillers right then, but the mean nurse (who was probably nice under different circumstances) said that they needed her fully conscious so she could give her statement.

The first time this was said, Darcy still had a full dosage of Vicodin in her system and thought they were asking for a kidney. As she slowly gained back her ability to think, she realized that somehow she had confused _kidney_ for statement. An hour later she realized that she would have rather given up her kidney if it meant she could be knocked out again.

Aside from the nurse coming in every so often, Darcy hadn't seen anyone else. There was a brief commotion outside the door when she first opened her eyes, which at the time time she had assumed were people fighting over her kidney. That didn't make much sense to her later on, and that's when she vaguely recalled hearing a familiar, high-pitched voice doing a lot of yelling.

When Darcy was appropriately in her right mind and properly in pain with only extra strength Tylenol to keep her company, the nurse returned, this time with two visitors.

Her best friend, looking like she had been worrying too much and not getting much sleep, and Tony Stark, who surprisingly didn't look as chipper and awake as usual either.

Jane rushed immediately to Darcy's side, practically collapsing on top of her. That's the moment when Darcy first noticed her injuries. Mainly because Jane was pressing on all of them in her embrace. With a gentle tug and reminder that Darcy was hurt, Tony pulled her friend away and sent Darcy a brief nod in acknowledgment.

"Stark," Darcy said in response and she attempted a sarcastic salute with her right arm. Her arm did not comply though and flopped like a half-drunk fish on top of her blanket. That startled her enough to start looking for where she had actually been hurt. Earlier she'd been too high on pain medication to actually locate the source of the pain. She'd just known she was hurting. _A lot._

Even without Jane crushing her to death, though, she was still having a hard time breathing.

"You broke your arm," Jane said, voice cracking, and Darcy lifted up the thick layers of blankets to see that her left arm indeed was in a cast. A green cast actually.

"My choice," Tony said with a knowing smirk that went unnoticed by Jane.

"And you have two cracked ribs, but nothing was punctured," Jane continued. Her face scrunched up like she was trying not to cry. "And... and you have a concussion, but no damage was done to the brain." Then she proceeded to burst into tears making the next words she said completely inaudible.

Darcy looked at Tony, and Tony looked at Darcy, neither prepared to handle this sobbing woman. Darcy wasn't entirely sure she was allowed to move, and Tony... well Tony was incapable of human feelings.

The nurse present, who had been standing off to the side to give them some privacy, just clicked her tongue at them both and then wrapped Jane in a hug.

Tony looked on in obvious discomfort before turning back to Darcy. "So, in other words, you'll be fine."

Darcy snorted. And then cringed because it made her stomach hurt. "Thanks boss."

"Oh," Tony started, waving his hands, showing for the first time real emotion with widening eyes and flared nostrils. "No way. I may have some leadership capacity but I'm in no way your boss. This..." he said, motioning to her injuries, "is not... my fault."

Darcy just rolled her eyes. "Of course it's not your fault. It was those two psycho scientists." She paused at this, contemplating. "It _was_ the two scientists, wasn't it?"

Tony nodded, somberly.

Her face split into a wide grin. "So I was right?"

"Only you would be so excited about being right in a situation like this," Jane sniffed, finally halting her crying. "Especially when you guys got hurt, there are more important things to be concerned with."

Darcy moved to sit up in her bed, and the nurse quickly rushed to her side to help. "That's not true. Tony would be exactly the same," she said, jabbing a thumb towards the billionaire who didn't disagree. She shifted slightly, trying to not put much pressure on her ribs, and frowned. "Wait... who else got hurt?"

Tony remained silent, but Jane startled rambling off the people. "Those lab techs that sit next to us in HR meetings, and that receptionist on floor three - the one with the weird hair?" Darcy recognized who Jane was talking about, and motioned for her to continue. "And then Dr. Banner of course."

Darcy froze. "Wait, what? What happened to Bruce?" She turned her head to Tony for explanation, but he was avoiding her eyes. She looked back to Jane in alarm. "Is he okay?"

Bruce couldn't be hurt. He was indestructible. He was the Hulk! He had saved her life so many times and to think that he was...

Jane frowned at Darcy. As far as she knew, Darcy had only met him once or twice. She didn't know that Darcy went to his and Tony's lab daily. Darcy hadn't not told her on purpose, she just hadn't wanted to make Jane feel guilty for why she needed to escape to the other lab in the first place.

"Dr. Banner is stable now," Jane said, flicking her gaze to Tony as if that would somehow enlighten her to the situation.

"Stable?" Darcy shrieked. Stable meant that previously, he had not been stable. Her hands started to shake as she started to untangle herself from her bed sheets.

"Darcy!" Jane scolded, "You need to stay in bed. You're hurt."

Darcy swatted her friend's protests away and worked at figuring out had to push down the rails that were caging her in on both sides. "No," she grunted, straining over a rail to feel for buttons. "No, I need to..."

"Here," Tony said walking up to the bed and then in the blink of an eye he'd disable the rail. He smirked at Darcy, amused to see her exasperated expression. _Stupid geniuses._ When Darcy went to stand though, he held up his hands to stop her. "Whoa there. How about we get you a wheelchair and take you to see him?"

Usually she would object to any suggestion from Tony Stark, but as it were, Darcy's head was starting to feel a little woozy so she just nodded, slouching back onto her bed with a groan. Then she looked around for the nurse, but sometime in the last minute she must have slipped out.

"Uh, I guess I'll go find one?" Jane asked, sounding somewhat uncertain.

"I think that would be a wise decision given your friend's seeming desire to further injure herself," Tony said sarcastically.

Darcy shot him a look and then softened her features into a smile for Jane. "Thanks."

* * *

 **Welp... I have been sucked into the vortex that is Tumblr you guys! That, and midterms, are the main reasons that I have been mostly absent in updating this story. So... come follow me on Tumblr (same name on here) as I fangirl over some of my favorite TV ships and freak out over unexpected cliffhangers. (You also have my permission to message me about updating my fics. It would be quite deserved, really.) You can even request fics on there if you want.**

 **So... at least one more chapter after this one. And then I'll continue working on this series. I'm on Spring Break right now, so hopefully I'll get more time to work on some chapters!**

 **I just wanted to update this so you wouldn't be left on a cliffhanger for longer than necessary!**

 **Feedback is welcome. It feeds my writer soul.**


	5. Chapter 5

Darcy took a deep breath in, trying to steady her shaking nerves. Her hands were gripped tightly on the armrests of her wheelchair and she didn't say a word as Jane wheeled her down the hallway, Tony leading the way.

When they reached the door to Bruce's hospital room, number 357, they paused outside. It was the middle of the day, but because they were in the intensive care unit there weren't many others around except for a spare nurse or two.

After a beat of silence Tony told Jane, "I'll take it from here," and Darcy's friend reluctantly let him take her place behind the wheelchair before saying she would be in Darcy's room when they were finished.

As the door opened, Darcy sucked in a breath, and Tony laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

The room was dimly lit, with only one set of lights on and the curtains pulled closed over the windows.

They paused right inside the door, Tony waiting for Darcy's cue to continue. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness when she was startled by the presence of someone in the far corner of the room. She relaxed when she recognized the man in uniform, a gun slung where a bow would normally be. "Clint?"

 _"Clint?"_

The guard broke his stationary position against the wall and walked over to them, the light from the hallway spilling across his features and confirming Darcy's guess. "Hey, Darce. How are you feeling?"

Darcy had met Clint, aka Hawkeye, during her second month with SHIELD. It was after another rescue from the Hulk, when Darcy had taken cover in an abandoned building and discovered there was already someone else using it to hide. Clint had been shot and after a quick introduction, had allowed Darcy to bandage him up.

Darcy had learned how to remove a bullet from a grumbling superhero (something that would no doubt come in handy in the future), and Clint hadn't passed out on the cold concrete of the warehouse. So all in all, it was a win for everyone.

Neither had mentioned it afterward, which Darcy realized was a common practice among all superheroes it seemed - not talking about _anything_. However, the few times Darcy had seen him around the building, Clint had given her a small wave and a knowing smile.

He was giving her the same smile then, although it looked more tense than usual. His eyes kept darting to the room's primary occupant every few seconds as if he were suddenly going to disappear into thin air.

"Peachy," she replied to his question, waving her green cast in the air as proof.

Clint arched an eyebrow at the color, then his gaze flicked away again, although this time more in consideration than concern.

"Tony picked it," Darcy was quick to add, not wanting there to be any kind of misunderstanding.

Returning his eyes to hers, Clint said, "I didn't know that you were friends with the good scientist here."

"I don't know why you're surprised," Tony chirped, speaking for the first time since they'd entered the room. "I'm perfectly capable of making friends."

Darcy rolled her eyes at the lame attempt at a joke. "Obviously, he didn't mean _you_ , Tony. And I don't know if I would call Bruce and I friends, exactly... it's complicated."

Tony, who still had a hand on her shoulder, gave it a gentle squeeze. "You wouldn't have come to visit him if you weren't friends," he said, simply, and as often was the case with Tony, he was most likely right.

Clint nodded in agreement. "I take it Tony didn't give you the run-down on what exactly happened then?" There was something in his eyes, something that was being left unsaid.

"No," Darcy replied, voice purposely neutral. "No, he didn't."

There was an uncomfortable cough behind her as Tony removed his hand from her shoulder. "How about we let you say hi first... then I'll tell you what you want to know."

* * *

Bruce was asleep.

Well, obviously he was asleep or Darcy would have made Tony take her straight towards him rather than stop for a quick chat.

But he wasn't in a coma like she had first assumed. At least, that's what Tony had said, and Darcy was choosing to trust him at the moment since he was the only source of information she had.

Tony said Bruce had a heavy dose of sedative running through his system to keep him from waking up. Apparently there was some concern that if he woke up in this condition that he would immediately Hulk out, and it was the general consensus of everyone involved that that wouldn't do anyone any good.

Darcy couldn't really tell the extent of Bruce's injuries from just looking at him, though, so she wasn't sure how serious exactly his condition was. What she could see of his exposed skin was marred with dark bruises and a few superficial cuts. The worst that was visible was a deep gash right above his left eyebrow.

Despite looking at him for a straight five minutes, he didn't move, and Darcy's gaze was naturally drawn to the slow beep of the heart rate monitor - the only thing signifying that he was, in fact, alive.

Although Darcy would never have called Bruce an animated person when he was awake, seeing him so still, so unmoving was... unsettling. She wanted the slightly awkward, incredibly goofy scientist who knew how to make her laugh when she was having a bad day. She wanted the guy who knew how to put Tony in his place with one well-placed line of geek speak (even if Darcy couldn't understand half of what he was saying most of the time - the resulting look on Tony's face was good enough).

Most of all, she wanted to see the tiny fidgets he made as he was working. The scrunch of his nose as he pushed his glasses back into place. A wayward hand waving in the air as he was explaining some complex science jargon. She just wanted a sign of something, _anything_ that would tell her he was really okay.

The sound of rustling pages pulled Darcy out of her thoughts, and she turned to see Tony flipping through Bruce's medical chart. Darcy's first thought was that Tony was probably violating HIPAA or some other law in doing so, but then again, he was Tony Stark. Tony Stark ignoring the rules was nothing new to anyone in the room. The familiarity of it actually, funny enough, was sort of comforting to Darcy.

With a grunt, Tony dropped the chart back into its holder at the end of the bed and ran a hand through his hair - the only outward sign of his frustration. Then, he pulled a chair up to the other side of Bruce, across from Darcy, and folded his arms. "Okay. What do you want to know?"

Darcy rolled her chair a little closer. "Everything," she said calmly, frowning at the sleeping scientist that she barely recognized. "I want to know _everything_." If her voice cracked on that last word, neither man in the room chose to comment.

If her voice cracked on that last word, neither man in the room chose to comment.

* * *

 **I know... I KNOW. More will be revealed in the next chapter from Tony about what exactly happened. It's not going to be too long of an explanation or anything, but I need to work out all of the logistics. Two updates in just as many days! Spring Break is a WONDERFUL WONDERFUL thing you all.**

 **And don't fret. There will be some more Bruce/Darcy interactions before the end of this story. I'm not being vague with Bruce on purpose. This story is after all, though, from Darcy's point of view.**

 _ **Note: I may have unintentionally** **lied to some of you all in the comments section about what to expect in this chapter. I was totally planning on doing what I said (this chapter's plot was originally just half of my originally planned chapter) but it ended up being much more detailed than I had anticipated.**_

 **Tomorrow I've got to get started on some senior project stuff for some of my college courses, but I'm really great at procrastinating with that, so expect to see another update sometime soon.**

 **Oh, and come check me out on Tumblr if you haven't already. Pop in and say hi, argue with me over my ships. Whatever. :)**

 **I'm also trying to figure out my plans for the second prequel story (which you may now realize briefly involves Clint at the end... so I hope you guys like him?).**

 **Right... so feedback?** **Please and thank you.**


	6. Chapter 6

It wasn't often that Darcy got truly angry.

There was that one time where her roommate came back drunk on Saint Patrick's Day and puked all over her political science notes. She'll admit that wasn't one of her calmer moments. She also got pretty mad when her landlord tried to gip her out of her down deposit. However, she hadn't yelled _that_ much, and the problem was resolved after a few careful and well-timed phone calls to the local chamber of commerce.

Right then, though, Darcy wasn't just mad. She was downright _furious_.

It didn't really help matters that her pain medication had almost worn off completely, and her ribs felt like they were on fire. She just used that pain to further fuel her anger, building up in her chest as Tony explained what exactly had occurred to land Bruce unconscious in the hospital.

She had stayed silent through most of the explanation. Only Clint seemed to be able to sense her quiet rage, because as Tony continued, his face slowly quirked upward into an expectant smirk. Tony, as was often the case, remained completely oblivious until it was too late.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Darcy screamed, finally having had enough after Tony said, "We're using this as a learning experience for the future to install stricter security measures."

Stunned by the outburst, the scientist widened his eyes and leaned back in his chair, as if Darcy was seconds away from diving across Bruce's bed and strangling him. Darcy certainly felt like doing that exact thing, if only her body would allow her to do so.

"I... I'm not sure what you mean…" Tony stuttered, glancing back at Clint for support. Unfortunately for Tony, Clint just held his smirk and took a step back, throwing his hands up to signify he was on his own.

Darcy didn't let Tony even finish his statement, though, her fingers itching to wrap themselves around his neck and give him a good shake. "A learning experience?! Really?" she interrupted, hissing. "I _told_ you that there was something off about those guys. I said it from the beginning. _Repeatedly._ But you wouldn't listen!"

It turned out the two scientists were actually Hydra plants, trained and stationed specifically to learn the Avengers' schedules and habits. Just like Darcy had suspected when she'd overheard their odd conversations.

Tony still looked taken aback by Darcy's anger that had seemed to come out of nowhere. After all, she was wheelchair-bound and had just woken up a few hours ago. She wasn't really a threat, but he seemed to still think he needed to placate her. "Look, Darcy," he began with a voice that was probably meant to be calming but just did more to fuel her rage, "you didn't have any viable proof. We can't just go making assumptions about-"

Darcy cut him off again. "Assumptions? I gave you plenty of good reasons. Plenty of good, 'viable' reasons," she sneered. "And the only person that even _somewhat_ believed me is lying unconscious in a hospital bed!"

Her gaze flickered to Bruce, thinking back to what she had seen just a few minutes ago.

Instead of telling her what had happened, Tony had thought it would be better to show her the actual footage. Darcy actually still had Tony's tablet on her lap. It sat there, heavy like a weight, reminding her of what Bruce had done.

A wave of guilt rushed over her. Darcy knew that it took anger for Bruce to transform into the Hulk. She gave a harsh laugh at the irony of it all, causing both Clint and Tony to frown over at her. Darcy had enough anger in her right then to transform into the big, green guy ten times over.

Bruce though… Stupid and selfless Bruce hadn't gotten angry. He had somehow kept his heart rate down to prevent his transformation into the Hulk. Instead, right after the explosion, which had thrown Darcy backward, Bruce had scrambled across the laboratory floor.

If Darcy hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wasn't sure she would have believed it. Even with the security camera's placement at such a distance, she could see that what Bruce had been feeling wasn't anger. No, it was concern, worry, desperation. _For Darcy._

He had been stupid. Sweet, but very, very stupid. It wasn't that she didn't understand the logic behind his actions - obviously she realized that Dr. Bruce Banner was more capable at first aid than the Hulk… it's just that she didn't think he should have risked his life to save hers in the first place. It wasn't worth it.

All the proof she needed of that was lying still on the hospital bed in front of her. Bruce had almost _died_ making sure she was okay, and in the process had been injured himself by flying debris and explosions. According to the time on the recording, less than a minute after crawling over to Darcy, another explosion had gone off, pushing him forward into a table, simultaneously knocking him unconscious and producing the nasty gash above his eye.

Even when unconscious, though, he had protected her, his body falling over Darcy in a way that had shielded her from further injuries. It explained why Bruce was so worse for wear compared to her, and the realization made something clench uncomfortably in her gut.

* * *

Darcy would have continued to yell at Tony until kingdom come if it hadn't been for Bruce.

Well, not Bruce exactly, but Bruce's heart rate. Even in a sleep as deep as his, Bruce's brain was registering the increased noise level, and his heart rate started to beat faster, the machine's volume increasing as the number went over the threshold.

It was Clint that had calmed Darcy down, convinced her to stop shouting with steady hands on her shoulders and comforting eyes. "Although you _do_ have every reason to," he had said, shooting Tony a glare. It was only with that acknowledgment that Darcy had stopped her tirade and slumped back into her chair with a heavy, pain-filled breath.

They all watched in silence as Bruce's heart rate returned to the desired level.

"You know," Darcy said to break the silence, readjusting her position in her chair with a grimace, "It may not be such a bad idea to let him Hulk out."

Tony's eyes about popped out of his head at the suggestion, and Darcy cut him off before he could say anything. "Obviously I don't mean in _here_ , dummy." She further pointed out the ridiculousness of his unspoken assumption with a roll of her eyes.

Tony did not react well to the nickname; it was probably the first time he had been on the receiving end of such an insult in his entire life. However, he kept his mouth shut with only the barest flare of his nostrils to show is frustration.

"But in a controlled environment… couldn't the transformation help along the healing process?" Darcy asked, thinking back to what she knew about Bruce from the short time she had spent with the Avengers – how even the nastiest of cuts had seemingly disappeared after one of his romps around as the green guy.

She had seen the objection poised on Tony's lips before she'd continued, ready to be spewed forth and disagree with whatever she chose to say. But then he surprised her by not saying a word and seeming to actually consider her question. He frowned in concentration, turning his gaze to the sleeping doctor and then jumping out of his chair. He paused by the door for only a brief moment to say "I'll be right back" before dashing out.

Clint only gave a low whistle in appreciation and returned to his place in the corner of the room.

* * *

 **Update! Update! My internet basically sucked the entire week I was home for spring break, hence why I didn't really do much on here despite my best intentions. However, I'm here now and I come bearing gifts. Screaming, yelling, shouting Darcy gifts :)**

 **Now go forth and let me know what you think!** **Please and thank you from the bottom of my neverending shipper heart.**


	7. Chapter 7

Tony didn't come "right back," to the surprise of neither Darcy nor Clint given what both knew of Tony. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Darcy removed the hand she had placed on Bruce's and moved to turn her wheelchair around. Clint had remained silent until that point, but seeing her leave he spoke up. "I figured once you were by his side you'd never leave Lewis."

Darcy paused just as she started to reach for the door knob, and looked back over her shoulder at the archer in the corner. "You make me sound like some love sick teenager."

The man also known as Hawkeye raised an eyebrow in response as if to say 'You said it, not me.'

"Shut up," Darcy groaned, trying to bite back a smile and failing. A small laugh escaped her lips, causing a sharp stab of pain in her ribs. "You're not wrong, though," she admitted, glancing back towards Bruce. "If I didn't feel like my body was about to self-combust, you would have to be dragging me away. I'm going to see if that nurse lady can hook me up with some more meds."

Clint nodded in what seemed to be an understanding manner, and Darcy realized he probably knew the exact pain she was talking about. Heck, all of the Avengers had probably felt this way at least a dozen times before. "You'll have to tell me sometime about some of your close to death experiences. I feel like I've gone through enough times to join the club."

That got a bark of laughter. "Sure thing, sister."

Still with a smile on her lips despite the immense pain, Darcy left the room. She wasn't entirely sure _how_ she managed to roll herself out of the hospital room aside from sheer willpower and her stubborn desire to keep up appearances with Avengers waltzing around.

As soon as the door had shut behind her; however, literally just outside the room, she dropped her arms onto her lap and hissed out in pain.

"Need some assistance?"

It was with nothing but relief that Darcy recognized her best friend's voice and turned to see Jane, leaning against the wall and a cup of coffee in either hand. Jane's tone sounded lightly amused but slightly forced, and Darcy could hear a tinge of poorly veiled concern under the surface. Trying to avoid any further missteps and crying sessions, she eyed the coffee and asked, "Is one of those for me?"

"Of course not," Jane said, even as she handed a cup over. "It's for Tony. I figured he could use the caffeine right now."

"Har har," Darcy said, wrapping her fingers around the warm cup and taking a large gulp. She instantly felt ten times better. She didn't care what the science said, coffee was a miracle drug. "Hmm... heaven," she murmured. Then paused realizing that hospital coffee should not taste this good.

With a questioning glance at Jane, her friend immediately ducked her head and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Please thank Thor for me." _And Tony_ , she added silently and begrudgingly, since he was probably the one to tell the Avenger of his girlfriend's distress.

Jane sighed. "You can thank him yourself. He's in your room right now. I tried to tell him that you'd need your rest when you got back, but he wanted to see that you were okay for himself."

"Aw, the big softie," Darcy cooed.

Jane snorted. "Don't let him hear you say that. I think he wants to maintain his image as a big strong warrior..." Deemphasizing her point, Jane took another sip of coffee, which Darcy knew from her experience as Jane's intern to be a double caramel macchiato. Her eyes widened for a second, "Oh, and there is a blueberry muffin in your room, too."

"Praise the gods, "Darcy joked. "A warrior who is really good at ordering coffee. He's a keeper Jane."

"Speaking of keepers," Jane said, handing Darcy her cup and getting behind the wheelchair without even needing to be asked. " _Banner?_ Really, Darcy?"

"He's really sweet," she said, defensively, then as an afterthought added, "and we're just friends."

"I'm not even going to dignify that last part with a response because 'just friends' don't react the way you did." Darcy remained silent. "And I've met Dr. Banner. I _know_ he's sweet. What I don't know is how _you_ know he's sweet, Darcy. When did that happen?"

 _While you were mourning your long distance relationship with an Asgardian god?_ Darcy didn't say that, though, because she knew that was just the aching ribs talking. "Uh, just a little bit..."

"How many weeks?" Jane asked, not sounding mad.

Darcy paused before answering, "It's a little complicated."

Extrapolating from there like a good little scientist, Jane screeched. "Months? You've been dating him for _months?_ "

"Just a few. And I swear we really are only friends, Jane. I get Bruce and Tony lunch as part of my job and I hang out in their lab sometimes."

They came to an elevator and Jane stopped pushing Darcy to make her way around to the front of the wheelchair. She pushed the button to go down, then crossed her arms. There was a resigned but still skeptical look on her face. "Darcy, you _do_ know that he's the..."

Right then the elevator doors slid open with a ding. "The Hulk, yeah, I know. Funny story actually..." She giggled for a second. "Funny _s_ _tories_ ," she amended, snorting then sobered realizing it wasn't really a laughing matter. "That's where it gets kind of complicated... I might have actually kind of sort of met the big guy before I met the regular-sized guy?"

Jane didn't respond but Darcy could swear she heard the gears in the female scientist's head cranking at full speed. Jane sighed, the gears coming to a standstill. "Tell me later," she said. "I don't even want to think about that right now."

Apparently she _was_ thinking about it just a little, though, because right before they reached the door to Darcy's hospital room, Jane piped up again, "So just friends, huh?"

Jane was smiling. Darcy couldn't see her friends face but she knew it by the sound in her voice. It was great that Jane was freaking out about Darcy hanging out with the Hulk, but that didn't mean she wanted Jane to revel in the drama was part of Darcy's pathetic life.

Jane and Clint just needed to mind their own, dang business. And the blueberry muffin from Thor had better be freaking huge.

* * *

 **Not much to say except thank you to everyone commenting on this story and encouraging me to continue! I have just finished Spring Semester of school, and while I'm taking classes over the summer/applying for jobs (because I'm an adult now, who would have** **thunk it?), I will have a lot more time for updates.**

 **Now... go forth and comment please with your thoughts! have**

 **Also, for those that have seen Captain America: Civil War (SPOILERS) who else really wanted to see Bruce show up? Just me? :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Darcy came to the content realization that there was nothing better than a comforting hug from an Asgardian god and a nice, big, blueberry muffin. Well, that and a healthy dose of whatever pain medication the kind nurse had pumped into her veins.

She was feeling rather amazing, back resting against a conglomeration of clouds and the prettiest little angels sitting by her bedside.

Though, the one looked rather big and burly for an angel even if he _did_ have the right golden hair for the part. After squinting for a moment, Darcy felt a tingle of recognition at the back of her brain. Okay, so maybe the guy wasn't an angel after all. Angels were delicate little things and didn't carry around hammers.

No, angels carried bows and arrows. Like that Cupid guy she had talked to earlier!

 _Cupid? Clark?_ Whatever. Darcy just knew his name had started with the letter C.

And although the woman with the brown hair, sitting beside the buff blonde dude, physically _looked_ more like an angel with her small stature and dainty hands, angels didn't frown and talk at you loudly when you didn't respond to their badgering questions.

It wasn't Darcy's fault that she couldn't understand half of what the brunette was saying. It was like she was speaking in Spanish or something. Most likely the latter.

Suddenly, a door opened to the left and a stream of bright lights announced that another angel had joined the group. Darcy swiveled her head in what felt like slow motion to see who it was.

Immediately, though, she knew she had been wrong in her assumption. "You're not an angel!" she shouted at the newcomer. She didn't know how she knew that for sure, but something in her murky brain was telling her that the dark-haired guy in the suit and tinted glasses was more menace than saintly being.

The guy frowned at her reaction, and the next words out of his mouth just further confirmed her suspicions of his non-angel designation. "And you're not the pizza guy. We can't always get what we want, kid."

Turning, the man eyed the other two in the room with raised eyebrows, "Is she high?" He didn't bother to lower his voice, if anything raising it even more and Darcy thought, _nope, definitely not an angel._

Darn. Charlie's angels came in a group of three and she'd always wanted to be the mysterious Charlie. Charlie was rich and constantly surrounded by beautiful people. She'd have to see if Cupid/Clark was currently employed.

The brunette woman, whom Darcy suddenly remembered to be named Jane, gave a firm "No" while Darcy simultaneously declared "Yes! High on clouds - the medicine of the gods!"

The man's eyebrows went back down to their normal elevation level and a wide, annoying grin split across his face. Darcy didn't know how someone's smile could annoy her, it just did. "Wow. Should have used that excuse back in college."

The blonde dude shook his head. "I swear to you son of Howard that I did not cause Darcy's current state. I know not what this cloud medicine is that the woman in scrubs gave her, but I doubt it came from Asgard."

Jane looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and adoration. "Thor, no one thinks you caused this." Then she turned to the bespectacled man and gave a very strong look of disapproval. "Tony, you were a kid when you went to college!"

Tony/Son of Howard rolled his eyes. "This is entirely new information!" he exclaimed; however, the way he said it made Darcy think that it was _not_ new information. Not at all. "And really Jane, are you telling me that you didn't do any experimentation with 'clouds' when you were in school?" Tony wiggled his eyebrows at Jane, whose cheeks were suddenly starting to get a little pink.

Darcy laughed and jabbed a thumb at Tony. "I like this one, Jane. He's a keeper, too. Add him to your list!"

Tony walked over to the liquid bag attached to Darcy's arm, mumbling with wonder, "I need to get me some of this stuff..."

"Look don't touch," Darcy commanded, swatting at him.

Tony yanked his hands away, turning his attention back to Darcy with a predatory eye. "Now what's this about a list, Miss Lewis? I don't know how Bruce will feel when he finds out he's not the only one in your heart."

"Bruce?" Darcy mumbled. This guy, Tony, was making Darcy's head hurt. The name seemed so familiar and it was like trudging through sludge to focus enough to remember why.

Meanwhile, Jane was berating Tony for "keeping secrets" and saying she "deserved to know when her best friend was dating the Hulk."

"Just friends," Darcy and Tony said simultaneously, but it was Tony who continued, "And not for lack of trying on my part, the dense idiots." He looked at Jane and Thor with something akin to happiness. "Now that it's out in the open you can join operation T."

"T? Like the letter T?" Darcy asked in confusion.

Rolling his eyes like the answer should be obvious, he said, "No... TEA. T-E-A."

"Oh, I see," she replied because that really did make a lot more sense. Suddenly, a lot of things were making more sense in her brain. It was kind of like a cloud had lifted. There was a beat of silence, then, "Tony, did you come with something about Bruce?"

Tony seemed pleased by her question as if she were a monkey in a lab experiment. "Knew mentioning tea would trigger you Lewis... and yes, I have a plan!"

"I'm sorry if those words don't exactly inspire confidence in me," Jane deadpanned. "And whatever it is, Darcy is _not_ going to be a part of it."

* * *

Darcy didn't really appreciate being told what she could and could not do. Maybe it was a leftover from her weird childhood with incompetent parents, or perhaps it was just the modern feminist in her coming out to play. Either way, when Tony revealed that he was planning to wake up Bruce and Jane declared that Darcy was "under no circumstances allowed to be in the same room as the big rage monster," she about blew a gasket.

"But it was _my_ idea!" Darcy argued for the millionth time, even though Jane was no longer in the room to be persuaded.

"Actually," Tony said, flipping through her medical charts casually, "It was _my_ idea, you were just the catalyst."

Darcy muttered something very impolite under her breath.

She said aloud, "Whatever" in a resigned manner that would fool no one into thinking she was done. Darcy wasn't one to give up that easily. She pushed on to the actual details of Tony's plan, which he had been decidedly vague about with Jane and Thor. "How are you going to convince the doctors and nurses to let you take Bruce out?"

Tony laughed and slipped her charts back into the pocket at the end of her bed. He held up his index finger, saying, "First off, never underestimate me." Then he paused his counting to glance over his shoulder, and quickly motioned for Darcy to lie back. For whatever reason, she complied without a word. "Second, what hospital do you think we're in exactly? It's not the public health clinic, for starters." He gently pressed on her ribs and she winced. "Scale 1 to 10."

"What, you own this hospital?" Darcy asked, getting his unspoken meaning, then remembering his question answered, "5."

Tony nodded. "Good. Good." With one more glance behind him, Tony quickly rolled over Darcy's wheelchair.

"Uh-oh," Darcy muttered as she got up from the bed.

"What? What?" Tony exclaimed with concern, "Are you okay? Did you hurt something else?" He paused, then took a step back. "Or are you remembering our earlier conversation earlier?" Tony looked slightly alarmed at that thought.

Darcy rattled her brain for a moment, then shook her head. "Nope on both accounts," she replied, sitting down in the wheelchair and lifting the IV bag off its hooks to hold in her lap. If they were going on a trip, she needed her meds. "Uh-oh as in _now_ I understand why you sent Jane over to arrange Bruce's transport instead of doing it yourself."

As she began to move forward, Tony Stark pushing her chair with a huff, Darcy really pondered with renewed appreciation the term "distraction."

Meanwhile, Tony waved at a passing nurse and gave his million dollar, charming smile. He leaned down next to Darcy's ear and lowered his voice. "Admittedly, at first I was worried that the god of thunder wouldn't follow."

Darcy snorted.

"You're right," Tony said in response, as if he now realized the stupidity of his own statement. "Thor would follow Jane anywhere."

"But emphasizing that Dr. Banner had a dangerous alter ego was a nice touch to bring out Thor's protective side," Darcy said appreciatively.

Reaching a set of elevators that Darcy hadn't noticed before, Tony slid up to the doors, a smug smile in place as he jabbed at the down button.

"But the existence of his alter ego doesn't seem to bug you..." Tony prodded because, well, because he was Tony Stark and prodding was what he did for fun. Darcy shrugged. " _Like at all_ ," he added pointedly.

"I've dealt with worse," Darcy said, not feeling the need to rehash her sordid history of failed romantic relationships, especially with Tony Stark.

Tony eyed her critically then frowned. "Sadly, I think you're actually telling the truth that you've had worse boyfriends than a big, green rage monster." He whistled and moved to push Darcy through the opening doors.

"Neither Bruce nor his alter ego has _ever_ been a danger to me. Just the opposite really."

"We're going to have a talk about your encounters with the Hulk later."

With an eye roll, Darcy sighed. "Get in line behind Jane. Or better yet, schedule a meeting together so I can get it all over at once. Bring lots of tea."

When the elevator dinged and the doors slid back open, it didn't look like a parking garage nor the lobby of any hospital that Darcy had ever seen. She had been too stressed about the idea of having an intervention-sounding conversation with two scientists that she hadn't paid any attention to what floor they were going to.

Her jaw dropped open when she saw the floor number. _SUB 5._ "Uh, Tony?"

"Don't tell me you're backing out now Darce," Tony snarked, as they moved forward through a bright, white hallway with a pristine, black tile floor.

Registering his words, Darcy twisted around in her chair, immediately regretting the decision when her body protested. "Wait, are you going to let me be there when Bruce wakes up? What about what you said to Jane about my safety?" In the hospital room, Tony had appeared to be on Jane's side with Darcy staying in the hospital until a doctor cleared her, and staying far away until Bruce was fully conscious. She should have realized something was up when Tony had snuck her out of her hospital room, but she supposed her meds were still affecting her cognitive abilities.

They paused at a stainless steel door and Tony swiped a card over a scanner that flashed blue before beeping and unlocking. "The word 'safety' is so... subjective. Besides, you're going to be on the other side of a reinforced, practically indestructible wall. _Watching only._ What's the harm in that?"

Darcy would have preferred to be inside the walls, but she wasn't going to hit a gift horse in the mouth, even if that horse happened to have a face just asking to be slapped like Tony's. "No harm at all," Darcy said sweetly. "And what Jane doesn't know can't hurt..."

As they rounded a corner, Tony froze in pushing Darcy's chair, and Darcy froze in said chair at the sight of two women, one brunette and one redhead, both looking incredibly angry even at a distance. A much less angry-looking bulky blonde god stood with them at the end of the hall in front of a large, glass window.

The redhead crossed her arms over chest, but it was the brunette who spoke. "What about Jane not knowing?"

* * *

 **Thanks for everyone's comments on the last chapter! I'll get to those soon.**

 **AND I since I actually combined two chapters into one instead of posting a short-ish update again, it will be a few days until you get a new one. We're getting closer to Bruce waking up, though! I know a lot of you are here for Bruce/Darcy, but I hope you are enjoying the fun with the other Avengers in the meantime. I always feel like the best fics are those that utilize a bunch of them. They're such a great group of characters.**

 **Let me know what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

"Pepper!" Darcy glanced up just in time to see Tony's eyeballs widen comically. " _Darling..._ "

"Don't darling me, Tony!" the redhead snapped, her high heels clacking angrily against the floor as she made her way over. "Why did I have to find out from Jane what was going on?"

"Traitor," Tony muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Darcy to hear. Louder, he said, "I didn't want to give you any reason to worry. You've got so much on your plate."

If Pepper could shoot heat lasers from her eyes, and Darcy had heard rumors lending credibility to that idea, she would currently be directing them at Tony's head. Before Pepper could say anything in response, though, Jane stormed over and jumped in on the yell-at-Tony train. "And why are the both of you down here? I seem to remember a certain best friend of mine having recently almost been blown up."

"I was just giving young Darcy here a walk," Tony explained as he gestured to the wheelchair, then winced realizing it sounded like he was referring to a golden retriever and not a person. "I mean… uh.." Everyone was quiet as he scrambled to correct himself, then after sputtering for a moment and coming up with nothing, his shoulders drooped. "Look, Darcy here is in love with Bruce, Odin help her, and she wants to be here for her boyfriend when he wakes up."

Pepper's face softened at that, as did Jane's, right before her eyes widened down at Darcy. "Boyfriend?! You said you two weren't dating!"

"We're not!" Darcy exclaimed, and at her denial, everyone's gazes shot to Tony for an explanation.

Tony rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. "Well, she'd like him to be! Banner is a tough nut to crack."

On that point, apparently, Jane could agree, as the scientist started to nod. "It took me over a month to convince him to change his quantum generation formula processing procedure!"

Thor, who had up until that point been still looking out the window, walked up to his girlfriend with a chuckle and shake of his head. "How he held off your persuasive ways for so long, I will never know."

Jane laughed and bumped her shoulder against his fondly.

"So… you're in love with him?" Pepper prodded, using that laser focus to get back on track.

Two answers were shouted at once, Darcy's adamant "no" warring with Tony's emphatic "yes!" Hearing her denial, Tony added, "Well, maybe not yet, but she's been thinking about it a lot."

"How in the world could you know that?" Darcy gasped as she tried to turn to get a better look at Tony, the words escaping her mouth before realizing that she had just given herself up. But really, the only way he could have known... "Have you been _spying_ on us?"

The smirk, if anything, grew larger. "One word - JARVIS. He seems to be more invested in you two getting together than I am." Darcy groaned. If she hadn't already felt pathetic enough in regards to her love life, hearing that a British AI was watching her interact with Bruce for entertainment would have done it. "There, there, intern," Tony said, patting her head in what was probably supposed to be a comforting gesture. "We're about to wake your boo thang up and you can finally tell him how you feel."

Pepper's expression instantly turned deadly serious and Darcy swore she saw flames in the other woman's eyes. "Never ever utter the phrase 'boo thang' in my presence again."

Nonplussed, Tony rolled Darcy's wheelchair back and forth, testing the metaphorical waters. "So... can she stay?"

Jane opened her mouth to respond and Darcy felt her heart sink because she knew how Jane felt about "the Hulk." But then Pepper, bless her, gestured for Jane to follow her and they walked back to the window a few yards away. Thor followed and for the longest minute of Darcy's life, the three spoke back and forth in hushed tones. Well, Pepper and Jane did most of the talking whereas Thor just nodded his head a lot.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Pepper looked in their direction, and her face broke into a small smile as her eyes landed on Darcy. "You can stay…"

"With the proper precautions," Jane hastened to add.

"Deal," Darcy said, relief washing over her. Then she put a steadying hand on her IV bag and waved back to her designated wheelchair pusher. "You heard them, Stark! Mush!"

* * *

Darcy knew that a lot of people were afraid of the Hulk, but she had never been one of them. Even seeing him in this heightened state, more aggressive than usual, she still wasn't because while she may be afraid, it wasn't _of_ him but _for_ him.

She could practically feel the distress in his howls and in the vibrations his fists made as they smashed into the floor. Pieces of cement flew up in large chunks, and one crashed against the viewing window, causing Jane to yelp in surprise and pull Darcy back.

"Can't we do something?" Darcy asked softly, each roar and punch feeling like a hit to her heart.

Tony shook his head, staring down at the datapad in his hand that was supposedly allowing him to monitor the Hulk/Bruce's vitals. "Medicine wouldn't do anything. We just have to let him cool down on his own."

Darcy looked doubtfully out at the green guy. If anything, his reactions had grown even more intense since he'd awoken.

It had been over twenty minutes since wheeling Bruce into the reinforced room and injecting him with a chemical to wake him up. Eighteen minutes since the sleeping man had transformed before their eyes, bones popping as they expanded and skin stretching as it turned a bright shade of green. Ten minutes since Pepper had needed to excuse herself, looking on the verge of tears.

Jane's hand, which was resting on Darcy's shoulder, was shaking.

"Jane, maybe you should..." she was interrupted by a loud crash as the Hulk hurled a slab of cement 10 feet wide at the far wall of his enclosure. Jane jumped. "...leave."

"I'm not leaving your side until that Hulk thing-"

"Bruce," Darcy and Thor corrected.

The grip on Darcy's shoulder loosened slightly. "Until _Bruce_ is better."

"That means a lot, but..." Darcy was interrupted by a crash again. "Really?" she screamed unproductively at the soundproof glass. No one said anything for a minute after her outburst, just looking down into the reinforced room as the Hulk continued to destroy everything in sight. Then Darcy turned to Tony who was sitting on the floor, back to the window.

It was his expression that did her in, really. Tony was hunched over his datapad and frowning. Seeing a frown on the man's face was such a disconcerting sight that Darcy had to take a steadying breath to stop herself from crying. While the Hulk was basically indestructible, Tony had expressed some concerns about what impact psychologically the Hulk's emotions could have on the human version of him. So the sooner Bruce returned, the better.

Darcy looked back to the window and swallowed down the lump forming in her throat. "Let me talk to him." Just as she said the words, a particularly loud roar drowned her out. As she repeated herself, she had to make a concerted effort to keep her voice steady. "Let me talk to him."

This time she knew she was heard because she felt Jane's hand tighten on her shoulder again, as if the appendage alone was what was keeping Darcy safe. "What? No! That's a terrible idea."

"Why? Me talking to him isn't going to weaken the indestructible room. No one can get hurt. Plus, I'm not hearing any brilliant suggestions coming from the rest of you."

Tony, unlike Jane, didn't immediately shoot down her idea, instead giving her a considering look. A moment later, he set the datapad aside and rose to his feet. "Okay."

Darcy did a double take, sure she had heard wrong and the drugs were messing with her brain more than she'd realized. "Really?" she asked, watching as Tony walked over to a set of buttons on the edge of the window.

"Really?" Thor repeated, although with much more skepticism as he tilted his head to one side and frowned.

Tony shrugged. "She's right. What could it hurt?" He flipped a switch overhead and quieted his voice. "Besides… I really don't want to use my last resort." His voice sounded distant at that, and Darcy had to stop herself from asking what exactly his "last resort" was. It sounded ominous and awful, and right now her bucket of sad and unhappy things was too full to take on anything else.

Still, the fact that Tony was listening to Darcy showed how desperate he was. It was probably just as difficult for him as it was for Darcy right then considering that Bruce was the closest thing he had to a best friend. With that realization, an entirely new and unfamiliar urge to hug Tony Stark washed over her.

When Tony came to stand beside her, though, Darcy ignored the urge and settled for patting the man on the shoulder in an echo of his gesture from earlier. "It's going to be okay," she whispered. Her eyes flicked to the glass where she could see the Hulk currently pounding into the floor. "And I know this is a one-way window, but could you possibly-"

Tony shook his head regretfully and murmured, "Not gonna happen. Sorry, kid."

Darcy sighed. "That's okay."

Immediately, the pounding stopped and Darcy realized a second too late that she had forgotten to whisper. As the Hulk slowly turned his head towards the ceiling, Darcy didn't dare breathe. She followed his line of sight, just barely making out the square speakers that were installed in all four corners of the enclosure.

 _"Darcy?"_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 ***Waves***

 **So, it's been quite some time. Life got in the way in the form of a new job, funerals (of both the human and animal variety), and just a general lack of ability to get back into the rhythm of this story.**

 **I still don't think I was quite successful in capturing the tone of the first few chapters, but when it's been so long and me being such an amateur, what can you expect? *Hopeless shrug***

 **Even still, I hope you enjoy. I'm trying to figure out where to go from here and how many more chapters to make this.**

 **I appreciate everyone's feedback so far and the continued support for this story. I will make no promises on when the next chapter is up. One-shots are much easier to wrap my head around right now for whatever reason.**

 **Thanks again and let me know what you think! Rough and un-beta'd as per usual.**


	10. Chapter 10

For once in her life, Darcy couldn't speak. She usually had plenty to say, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. It was like the words were lodged there, right in the back of her throat.

At her silence, the Hulk took a step toward one of the speakers. "Darcy?" Although she may have been imagining it, through the rough, gravelly texture of his voice, the Hulk almost sounded... worried?

After another moment of silence, Jane jabbed her not so delicately in the shoulder, spurring Darcy to speak. "Hey, big guy."

There was no imagining the relieved slump of the Hulk's shoulders at hearing her voice. Or the way he cocked his head, waiting for her to speak again.

"Well I'll be.." Tony drawled in shock, causing the Hulk to frown at the entry of a new voice.

Darcy snapped her fingers to get the billionaire's attention and then made a cutting gesture across her throat. Tony talking was rarely helpful and now was no different. Too many voices would just confuse the poor guy.

Rolling her chair forward, Darcy angled her head up at what she thought was the microphone. "I know you must hate being caged up like this." She did her best to keep her voice calm and sweet, not knowing what could trigger another rage fest. "Do you want to get out of there?"

The Hulk nodded vigorously in response.

Taking a deep breath, Darcy hoped that he wouldn't react badly to what she had to say next. "Okay, but to do that we're going to need Bruce to come back."

Despite speaking slowly, she wasn't sure at first that the Hulk had understood. Then he plopped down on the floor with a loud huff causing a cloud of cement powder to kick up in the air. Oh yeah, he had understood.

"The other guy not feel well," the Hulk rumbled, bowing his head and rolling a basketball-sized rock around on the ground with his pinky.

"I know and that's why we needed you... But now we need Bruce, okay?"

The Hulk flicked his finger at the rock and it went flying across the room. If it wasn't for the fact that he was the size of a small building, the green giant would have looked like an annoyed child who had just been told play time was over. He huffed again. "Okay." The Hulk closed his eyes and slowly inhaled. Exhaled... inhaled. Then an eye popped open. "See Darcy soon?"

A smile spread across Darcy's face at that. "Yeah, big guy. I'll see you soon."

Eyes closed again, the Hulk breathed in and out, slow breaths, the rise and fall of his chest visible from up behind the window. And after a few breaths, just like that, he started to change back.

It was strange watching it happen in reverse. Darcy had seen Bruce transform a handful of times, but watching the impossibly large, green figure shrink down to a small human man was mindblowing.

The size started changing first, limbs getting slimmer and eventually shortening to human proportions. Midway through that change, the Hulk's skin began to shift to a light tan color.

The whole process was over in less than a minute and then it was just an unconcious man laying in the middle of the rocky debri.

There was an overly dramatic gasp to Darcy's right and she turned her head to see Tony looking half annoyed, half thrilled. "We really could have used you for the past few years, our own personal Hulk whisperer. Where have you been hiding?"

Jane snorted. "New Mexico, London, New York... "

"But not Asgard," Darcy added sharply with a glare at Jane, then shot a look back at Thor. She would be forever bitter that her best friend got to visit a mystical land with gods and magic and rainbow bridges. Meanwhile Darcy had had to stay on boring old Earth with Ian as her only company. She shook her in disgust at the hand life had dealt her, then turned to an amused Tony. "Look," she said, pointing to the window. "No more green. So I can go down now, right?"

"Let me go first and check his vitals. Then you can see him." Tony started for the elevator that would take him down to that level then paused, opening a cabinet that Darcy hadn't noticed before and pulling out a blanket along with a pair of pants and a shirt that looked suspiciously similar to what Bruce wore every day. Tony smirked. "Always good to prepared."

A minute later, Darcy could see Tony appear in the corner of the enclosed room and make his way over to Bruce's still immobile body. The first thing Tony did was throw a blanket over his friend for modesty's sake, then pulled out his palm pad.

It was a few, long minutes before Tony rose from where he had been hunched over Bruce and gave the thumbs up. Without being asked, Jane took hold of the wheelchair and pushed Darcy toward the elevator doors, Thor jogging ahead of them to get the button.

By the time the three of them were on the right level, past several security measures, and wheeling forward, Tony had Bruce in a sitting position, his back leaning against a large boulder that a few minutes earlier would have been the size of his fist.

When Jane went to push Darcy forward, she put out a foot to stop the motion. "No, I want to walk for this."

"But Darcy-" Jane started to protest.

Darcy motioned out to the field of rocks before them. "There's no way we can get over all of that in a wheelchair."

"She does have a point," Thor said helpfully, which earned him a grin from Darcy and a deadly 'shut up' look from his girlfriend.

Ignoring Jane's protest, Darcy grimaced before plucking the IV out of her arm and tapping on the clear bag in her lap. "Plus, I'm out of juice. This thing is useless to me empty."

When Jane realized that Darcy wasn't going to listen to reason she sighed. "Fine. You get five minutes and then you're in the chair heading back upstairs to your hospital room."

"Roger that."

It took Darcy an embarassingly long time to walk over to the two men, but she hadn't really thought about the fact that she was barefoot and there was so much debri around. Plus, she was kind of in pain given the lack of aformentioned juice, so yeah, she wasn't going to be winning a race anytime soon.

"Took you a while," Tony quipped when she eventually stopped a foot away. He hadn't taken his eyes off Bruce the entire time, and although he took a step back now to give her some space, his eyes remained locked on his friend, hypervigilant. "I've commed a med team to come down, so that gives you a few minutes. He hasn't woken up yet-"

Ever the contrarion, Bruce chose that moment to open his eyes, squinting in the absence of his glasses. And the first thing they landed on was the woman in front of him.

"Darcy?" Although it was Bruce's voice saying her name this time, it still held the same confusion, the same vulnerability that she had heard in the Hulk's voice. But, this wasn't the Hulk. This was Bruce.

He was awake. And as his eyes were searching hers for answers, she realized she had none. She had been focused on him just waking up and now that he was, she didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say.

"Darcy." This time her name wasn't a question, but rather like a command as it broke into her jumbled thoughts and she focused in on Bruce's face.

He was blinking as if trying to reorient himself and peering around at the large, empty room with what Darcy came to recognize as alarm. She wondered how many times he had woken up in this very room after hulking out.

This time, when he spoke, his voice was pure, solid dread. None of the Hulk remained. It was just Bruce asking, "What did I do?" Voice hollow, devoid of feeling, already numbing himself, prepared to hear a tally of destruction that he'd caused.

"No, Bruce, no," she said, shaking her head. Then gave what she hoped was a good smile. It felt a little weird on her face, but then again everything was feeling a little weird at the moment. "You didn't do anything wrong. You did everything right."

It was obvious that he didn't believe her at first. As her smile stayed put, though, some of the tension seeped out of his shoulders and he ran a hand through his hair. "Well, that's a relief." He almost started to smile himself before his eyes landed on Darcy's hospital gown and widened in concern.

"I'm fine," she rushed to assure him. She was alive, her friends were alive, Bruce was awake, and... she was suddenly very done with the whole thing.

Without planning to, her legs just kind of gave out and she was suddenly sitting down on the ground beside Bruce. She felt like her body had short-circuited.

"Darcy?" It was Tony's voice this time instead of Bruce's and suddenly his face was very, very close.

Darcy blinked, taking a moment to process the height difference, then remembered that she was on the ground. "I think I want to go lie down," she mumbled, closing her eyes. That seemed to help.

"What happened to her?!"

Darcy wasn't sure at first if her brain was going foggy or if Tony was just mumbling his response, but Bruce's enraged "And whose brilliant idea was it to let her down here?!" answered her question quite efficiently.

It was as if her head was suddenly plunged under water, hearing and sight like wishy washy waves coming in and out of focus. Washy? Wishy? Did that make sense?

Another face appeared in the waves then and she felt a hand press against her side. She thought she heard the word "destruction" or maybe it was "concussion." Either one would have been accurate, but Darcy couldn't really find it in herself to care what was being said at the moment.

The last time this had happened, she'd fought to stay awake and make sure Bruce was okay. This time she didn't have the strength and welcomed the black dots, letting them consume her as her world went blissfully blank.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

*waves*

The next update will come when it comes. As will the editing (I'm trying to upload via my phone because my computer has been unusable for the past 2 months, so I hope the formatting isn't weird!)

As always - thanks for reading!


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